This story is inspired, at least in part, by all the OP protagonist LitRPG fiction going around. (Inspired negatively? Inspired oppositely?) It made want to write a story about a group of around the same power just surviving in a LitRPG world and the interactions and emotions of such a group. We'll see how it turns out. Please enjoy.
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Derrick sighed as he gazed out the window at the evening sky. His gray hoodie accentuated his thin build, while his head hosted his jet black hair. Listless eyes gazed out the window, the same as they did on many an afternoon. Turning, he switched his attention back inside.
The earth shook and the sky boiled. The something that existed clashed indubitably the with something that was magic. A current ran through the world, fundamentally altering all of the reality that existed or could exist in a width of several billion solar systems. All of this happened in the span of time it took for Derrick to turn his head.
A blue window popped open in front of Derrick’s eyes
NOTICE: Monsters have been integrated into the existing system!
NOTICE: Monsters come in many shapes and sizes, and are exceptionally Dangerous!
NOTICE: Due to the influx of Monsters, Reactivation has occurred. Threat level has been assessed, and human beings have been granted Progression! Please Pick A Class! Congratulations! You are level 1! Please Assign Stat Points
Derrick’s eyes quickly scrolled through the glowing blue boxes in front of him. Monsters? Level up? What was this, some kind of video game?
Derrick heard a booming sound outside and looked out of his window, trying to discern what might have been responsible for the great racket. He stopped looking a second later when he became preoccupied with the giant tree man that moved in front of him. It lumbered, slowly but surely, across his lawn, leaving giant muddy footprints in its wake. When it took a step, the ground shook.
Derrick’s mind raced around coming again and again to what he had laid his eyes upon. "A monster," he thought, his eyes wide and sweat rolling down his brow. "An ent straight out of a fantasy novel!"
He dove for his window curtains, quickly jamming them down to hide from the beast outside.
With that taken care of, he quickly was enthralled in the inner turmoil his mind had become. "Monsters . . . they’re real?" he thought, "But they can’t be real! They can’t be! Oh shit, I’m gonna be eaten by the ents. I don't want to be plant food! Shit shit shi-"
He slapped himself in the face, hard. His panting breaths slowed as he began to Concentrate. His mind shunting all his panic away in face of his need to understand the situation. The blue box said something about this. It said that monsters have been integrated into the existing system. Was it talking about earth?
So focused, he read the floating blue box in front of him again, his mind slowly getting a grip on his current situation. "Has the world been turned into some kind of game?" He thought. "That would certainly explain the ent." He breathed in and out, his mind becoming more familiar with his current, strange, circumstances. The first thing to do if this was a game, was to get a hand on all of the different menus available. Feeling a little silly, he spoke up, his voice a little softer than usual. “Stats?” he said questioningly. Instantly a blue box appeared in front of him, making him start. He had expected it, but this whole situation was just too surprising, Derrick thought. His eyes scanned the blue box, and a frown appeared on his face as he read further down. He had played a few games in his day, and it didn't take an RPG master to see his current stats were on the low side of the scale. The low side of any scale.
Class:
Titles:
Level 1
Health: 104 (R/Hour 11)
Mana: 106 (R/Hour 12)
Stamina: 104 (R/Minute 6)
Strength: 2
Mind: 4
Intelligence : 3
Wisdom: 2
Dexterity: 4
Vitality: 2
Endurance: 1
Luck: 7
Points:
He shrugged and looked away. He knew how games that started out like this worked, and the fact that he was level 1 was rather telling. As his level rose, so would his stats. He would just need to level up as fast as he was able. Derrick switched his attention back to the window, focusing on a different part of the text, specifically the part that talked about selecting a class. He shook his head just thinking about it. This whole thing really was just like an RPG. After another bout of silliness in which Derrick summoned the class window, he was left looking at 11 differing options.
-Wizard
-Rogue
-Warrior
-Ranger
-Paladin
-Monk
-Bard
-Cleric
-Barbarian
-Druid
-Warlock
Derrick considered the choice for a moment, drawing on his knowledge from an entire childhood of playing video games. More than that, he considered his current situation. He knew that spell based classes, like a wizard, tend to have a hard time gaining levels but eventually reach great power. But did he want to risk going for a mage class when that rough start could spell his death? After all, he was alone. Without someone to fight on the front lines he would just get rushed down or overpowered. He shivered when he thought of the ents that he had seen in the forest just now.
Needless to say, a spellcasting class was out. Instead, Derrick needed something that would help him right away, a class that got their abilities early. A warrior matched this role perfectly, but Derrick didn't want to be one of those either. To go out and try to fight a straightforward battle with something twice his size just wasn't in him. He would much prefer to be a sideline fighter, who could get out a bad situation easily. And of the classes he had available, there were three who met his criteria. Derrick’s eyes flickered towards the rogue, bard and ranger classes. After some deliberation, he chose rogue. While the other two would provide more utility in spells, the rogue class would provide more raw damage and skill, and that was just what he needed. If what he knew about games held true, the class might even allow him to take advantage of his higher starting Dex and luck scores. Derrick selected the class, and another notification popped up.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Warning: You can not change a class once one is selected.
Proceed Y/N
Mentally reaffirming his decision, Derrick hit the yes button. Suddenly there was a flash of white light around Derrick, which eventually cleared, leaving Derrick feeling not that much different than he had before. Still, Derrick had doubted it would. Choosing a class was something that gave you benefits as you leveled up. It didn't give you power, but it did give you potential.
Satisfied with the class he had chosen, Derrick looked around his room for anything that he might be able to use as a weapon. He doubted that it would do much against an ent, but such a weapon would help him feel much better. He scrambled through the piles of old books and technological knick-knacks that he had managed to lay hands on during the many years of his life. Nothing was spared from the search, anything and everything tossed over in favor of some way for Derrick to defend himself. After a while, he managed to grab a hold of a red Swiss Army knife he had in some forgotten corner of his room. It wasn’t much, but it was better than trying to punch monsters out with his fists.
His family had been out for the day, and thus he was home alone. His family was off somewhere, most likely in the middle of this mess with all of the monsters, and he was here alone.He shook his head and tried not to think about how his family might be doing right now. If he did, his worry would just eat him up from the inside.
Thanking all of those survival documentaries he had watched, Derrick went up into the bathtub of his house and filled it, as well as all of the sinks. Derrick had no idea how long it would take for the water to turn off, especially when a rampaging something could come and destroy the supply in a matter of minutes. Derrick had to try and save as much water as he could, while it was still on. Once the water was temporarily taken care of, he began to take stock of the food. He knew it wouldn’t take very long for the power to stop working and then all of the stuff in the fridge would slowly begin to rot away and become inedible. Still, Derrick would save what he could. He put the ice packs and ice from the freezer in between all of the food that lingered in the fridge. Then he moved on to take stock of the pantry. Thankfully Detrick’s family had a stock of cans they had never used, which Derrick knew would be invaluable in the future.
After taking stock of his resources, Derrick estimated that his current provisions were enough for a month or two before he needed to resupply.
With all of the most important things done, Derrick made a bowl of soup, only for a blue window to pop up as he took the can out of the microwave.
You have received the skill: Cooking, Level 1, Ability to cook improved for every skill level obtained in cooking.
"So skills existed as well?" Derrick thought. He supposed that a lot of skills must be available if even something as mundane as cooking was integrated into the system. The world really had changed. So many things were recognizable, and yet completely new.
He ate the soup that he had made for himself with his shoulders hunched down. Every so often he would steal glances at his phone, but there never was any messages. Upon further inspection, it seemed that internet had gone down. He wouldn’t be getting any news that way.
Derrick was worried. He was worried about what would become of him and the life that he used to possess. Where were his friends and family right now? He couldn't help but wonder, and that gnawing worry began to grow again.
Derrick slurped up the last of the juice from his bowl and put it and his utensils in the dishwasher, which still worked, at least for now.
After the meal, and with the internet completely gone, Derrick decided to try and experiment a little with skills and how they worked.
He spent the next few hours going through the testing, and in that time, he managed to discover some things.
For example, any action that had importance could become a skill, but what made that action important was a mystery. Jumping up and down would, and did become a skill, most likely because jumping was a common action, but randomly wiggling only made Derrick feel silly.
You Have Received The Skill: Jumping, Level 1, Increases speed, height of jumps and reduces stamina usage with each level.
Another thing that Derrick discovered occurred after he had gained the jumping skill.
You have received one point in Dexterity!
Basically, it appeared that aside from leveling and improving skills you could also train your stats. Derrick reasoned that this method would probably become more and more difficult as you improved, assuming the system that the world now ran on was balanced. For all Derrick knew, you could power level everything to 200 in a week and become ridiculously powerful.
With all of this various information in mind, Derrick spent the rest of the afternoon gaining or trying to gain different skills.
He ran around in circles-
You have received the skill: Running, Level 1, Increases running speed and reduces stamina usage with each level
Read through some of his old textbooks-
You have received the skill: Mathematics, Level 1 Increases comprehension of subject and speed of problem-solving with each level
You have received the skill: Chemistry, Level 1 Increases comprehension of subject and speed of problem-solving with each level
You have received the skill: English, Level 1 Increases comprehension of subject and speed of problem-solving with each level
And threw some kitchen knives at a dartboard in the basement.
You have received the skill: Knife throwing, Level 1 Increases speed of knife thrown, accuracy and damage with each level. As a class skill, skill level is boosted by Dexterity and Luck halved.
Notice: Since this is a class related skill for Rogue, Advancement receives a 200% increase from normal.
You have received 2 points in Dexterity!
You have received 3 points in Intelligence!
Derrick smiled as he saw the notification about class bonuses. It seemed classes weren't just for show.
After that notice, he tried to obtain a stealth skill but failed, although that failure made sense. After all, to get a hiding skill wouldn't you have to have something to hide from first?
You have received 1 point in Wisdom!
Even the game agreed with his logic!
It seemed that skills all started at level 1 regardless of what you had done before the system, which sucked and was extremely weird. The knowledge of math was there, in his head, and he remembered doing it, but now it was locked behind a level wall. It was as if a very strange case of partial amnesia had caused Derrick to forget everything he had ever learned, even if he remembered learning it and knew about it conceptually.
Derrick vowed to get all of his skills up to his former level soon. Well at least most of them. Derrick doubted dividing polynomials would be very important with the way the world is now.
By the time Derrick was done messing around with the system and getting skills, it was dark outside, and he had begun to feel pretty tired. Everything else could most likely wait until tomorrow.
Despite the way the world changed, Derricks evening routine was the same. He got into comfortable clothes, brushed his teeth, and went to bed. The only difference was the large dresser that he dragged in front of his door to dissuade anything from entering his room while he was sleeping.